Markov paces fantasy win

Suffering Canadiens withdrawal? The Gazette has the answer with the ultimate fantasy experience as beat writer Pat Hickey and Gazette techie Eric Tobon employ EA Sports NHL 13 to produce The Season That Isn’t. Here’s how things might have looked in Tuesday night’s game against the Boston Bruins at the Bell Centre.

PAT HICKEY

The Gazette

Andrei Markov had a huge smile on his face as he made an encore appearance on the Bell Centre ice after being named the first star in the Canadiens’ 3-1 win over the Boston Bruins Tuesday night.

“I’m happy we won and I’m happy that I’m healthy,” Markov said after he scored a goal and added two assists. “I worked very hard to get my knee in shape and everything feels good.”

It was the first win for new coach Michel Therrien after starting the season with two losses. They will face the Bruins again Thursday night at the TD Garden.

Markov opened the scoring at the 59-second mark of the first period. Lars Eller, whose line was being used in a shutdown role, took the puck off Patrice Bergeron and joined Travis Moen and Markov on a 3-on-1 rush. Moen faked a shot to draw deenceman Andrew Ference’s attention and left a drop pass for Markov.

“The other guys did all the work,” Markov said.

Milan Lucic tied the game at 15:59 of the opening period when he beat Carey Price with a shot from the high slot that appeared to carom off a player in front.

But Price was solid the rest of the way as he and Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask traded big saves until Alexei Emelin snapped a 1-1 tie at 18:10 of the third period. Rask made an acrobatic save on Moen, but left a fat rebound for Emelin, who was pinching in on the play.

Brandon Prust completed the scoring when he found the empty net with one second remaining.

Markov, who missed most of the past two seasons as he recovered from three knee surgeries, assisted on both third-period goals and displayed his fitness by playing a season-high 24:17. Therrien double-shifted him on occasion in the third period after Tomas Kaberle left the game with what appeared to be a groin injury. Therrien said the injury didn’t appear to be serious, but Kaberle will not accompany the team to Boston.

The injury opens up a spot for Raphael Diaz, who has yet to play this season.

Emelin and Shawn Thornton were handed fighting majors in the first period after Thornton objected to a clean hit on Brad Marchand. Emelin, who is reluctant to fight because of facial injuries he suffered while playing in Russia, was content to tie up Thornton and the linesmen moved in quickly.

It’s maybe just me, but every time I read a player’s take on the lockout, they continue to prove their disconnection from reality. Here’s David Backes and his 28 years of wisdom on this earth chasing a rubber disc:

“Their first offer was over a 20 percent pay cut. If you take the average worker in the U.S. making $50,000 and you come into work tomorrow and your boss says, ‘Hey, the company is doing well; we need to cut your salary down $10,000.’ Everyone’s initial reaction would be, ‘Say, what?'” Backes told ESPN The Magazine on Tuesday. “‘And on top of the salary reduction — your two weeks’ vacation, we’ve reduced that to four days, and you’re not eligible for a pay raise for five years.’ You’re sitting there going, ‘This is insanity.'”

I think the comments speak for themselves, but to get this off my chest:

1. The NHL is doing well, but not all the franchises are (and St Louis isn’t exactly a paragon of revenue riches). So off the bat his premise is silly.

2. The average American makes just under $43K (source: http://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/AWI.html) and can bet there are some massive incomes in that top 2% balancing out a vast number of incomes below that level. It’s not shocking that a privileged hockey player has no idea how much the average worker makes, but it is shocking that they would comment so casually on it.

3. I didn’t see the NHL asking to extend the season to 100 games or make training camp 2 months. His lengthy offseason vacation is safe, even if he manages to get past the first round of the playoffs.

4. How does this CBA negotiation ensure players don’t get a raise? He’s using a ludicrous analogy: that collective barganing = personal income potential in the industry.

5. Most chillingly, he compares a person making 50K losing 20% of their income to the average NHL player… 2.5M minus 20% is still 2 MILLION DOLLARS, Mr. Backes, and even a fine arts student or a drunk alpaca can figure out that there’s a serious difference in quality of life between the 40K and the 2M.

Only his last line makes sense: “You’re sitting there going, ‘This is insanity.'” If there was any doubt that numbskull hockey players shouldn’t have a say in the business of hockey, it’s been proven once again during this lockout.

Interesting to note that the league is proposing Brian Burke’s suggestion to allow teams to ‘retain salary in trades’.
Does this give the Leafs a bigger advantage than other teams since they are the richest team?
Is there possible collusion on this issue between Bettman and his old friend Burkie?
Telio
The greatest Canadiens and NHL news-site: http://teliopost.com/
Twitter: @teliopost

To retain salary in trades gives no one an advantage because of being one of the richest teams. I believe that the objective was to have any salary retained count towards their cap. If a team has a lower cap level then it helps. Has nothing to do with being rich IMO. Anyone know the full intent of the retention aspect, I’m not full up on it.

It does count towards their respective cap though does it not ? My asking was because of Telio feeling it only helps the rich which of course was his way of promoting. Be interesting to see how much our cap level could be expanded with the Gomez contract if a taker was found.

I like the new proposal and hope it gets accepted by the spoiled players. Having said that, the new proposal means that Gomez will be impossible to bury in the minors as his cap hit would count either way. I’d still put him in the minors though so he doesn’t take a spot of someone else who would do a better job anyway.

Also, with only 6 million in space left and Subban to sign, there is no way Galchenyuk can play since his cap hit is over 3 million. This is good in my opinion because I want him to play at least one more season (this season) in the OHL.

I one time amnesty would be nice, huh? I think this puts a strain on other teams much more then the Habs. The Rangers is an example of one.
Edit- Larry Brooks reports that there is NO amnesty clause in the proposal.
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Point taken Ben. It is just a proposal but a lot of us are so anxious for the game to return we’ve jumped a bit too fast. Of course the devil is in the details but as fans we just want the game to return.

Strength, especially lower body strength,…. he could stand to add more power to this game and not be knocked off the puck as much as he is. Adding muscle before going pro is common for junior forwards.

Plays with some grit and works on the boards, but still could do more.